A Romp in the Park
Chapter 3: The Jewel Shard!
By: Fano

The exclamation point was barely out of Kagome’s mouth before she realized her mistake. Although she did not regret giving InuYasha the Oswari! command for startling her, and, and, and for being here crouched over her like he’d been stalking her in her sleep, she did realize that her position was very precarious. Usually, whatever was underneath InuYasha when he got the Oswari! was crushed completely as the beads pulled him to earth with several forces of gravity. Her eyes grew wide as she realized what was underneath him this time.

“Arggg!” InuYasha’s strangled exclamation matched his face which was an interesting combination of surprise, anger and exertion, to match the effort his arms and legs were putting out trying to protect her from his weight as they resisted the call of the beads pulling him down. “Try to get out,” he managed to grunt as his face lowered another inch towards hers, the beads pulling at his neck.

She did try to squirm out from under him, but both his knees were on her skirt and one of his hands was on her hair. What had he been doing over here? She raised her knees to try to bump him from behind, but he was solid as a rock over her.

“I can’t,” she squeaked, and looked up to see him take this in.

“Then I’m sorry, Kagome,” he managed to get out. “I’ll make this as painless as possible.”

She watched him lessen his resistance to the beads’ pull in his arms and his face came closer to hers. He was aiming his chin down by her ear, which was good, and though it seemed that he was trying to shift his shoulders away from hers, the force of his decent was increasing and he wasn’t going to make it all the way off her before landing. She closed her eyes and held her breath.

Wham! His body came down on her, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Just before she blacked out, she was aware that his face and chest, which normally took the brunt of the damage, had missed her and that it was the rest of him that had smashed her into the ground. She also noticed that something else, something hard, was crushed in between them, right where his hips met her stomach. Then everything was gone.

****

Akane stiffened when she heard the girl yell, only feet from where she and Ranma lay in each other’s arms. Ranma, too, stopped laughing and protectively put his arms around her. She felt very vulnerable all of a sudden, completely naked and laying on top of him. She became acutely aware of Ranma’s body beneath her, his strong muscles holding her to him and the new player making itself known down below. Despite the shock they both just had, the new guy didn’t seem to notice, and kept pushing against her thin panties from underneath his pants.

With one smooth motion, Ranma rocked to sit up, still holding Akane tightly to his chest.

“Hang on,” he said softly as he scooted a little towards their packs. While the little guy below seemed to find this motion rather pleasant, Ranma grunted a little with the effort. “Here,” he said as he grabbed his discarded shirt and put it over her shoulders.

“Thanks,” she said and blushed when he looked at her. All the coolness she usually saw in his eyes was gone. He smiled at her and helped her into the sleeves. When she went to button the shirt, however, he stopped her gently with his hands.

“Wait,” he said, keeping his voice to a whisper. He lifted her by the waist, like she weighed nothing – had she never noticed how strong he was really? – and put her down by the packs. “I’ll be right back.” Fixing her with a straight stare, he said, “don’t go anywhere.” Then he crawled silently over to the hedge to look towards where the girl had screamed that strange old fashioned Japanese word for “sit.”

Ranma found a hole in the brush where he could see through. His body became still and didn’t move. He was watching something intently. Soon, when he didn’t move to come back or leave, Akane crawled over to him and looked through the bush too. The strangest sight unfolded before her.

She saw a -- a what? – a boy, young man? dressed in traditional clothes and a barbaric looking necklace. He was cradling a young girl about Akane’s age in his lap, her legs over one of his knees as she sat in his cross legs under a large tree. She appeared to be unconscious. She was wearing a short skirt and a pretty blouse with about a hundred buttons that clung to her body and neck, though her arms were bare. But that wasn’t the most shocking part of the scene before them. The boy – young man? – had long and very thick white hair, almost silver, and his ears ... they weren’t human. They were ... sort of ... well ... like little animal ears. Kitty or puppy ears. Was he for real?

She looked up at Ranma with the question in her eyes. He looked back at her with the same question.

They looked again into the neighboring clearing and she had to conclude that the man (she decided he really wasn’t a boy, he held himself too confidently for any boy she’d ever seen) was real and genuinely distressed about his unconscious girl.

“Kagome!” He said her name and rubbed her cheek several times. His face was really very beautiful, Akane thought to herself. And his hands had ... claws? Geez. She wondered if she should be concerned for the girl lying limply in his lap. Not like she was about to go bursting in to save her in her current naked state. She noticed then with relief that his clawed hands had long, sensitive fingers which were rubbing the spot where Kagome’s heart was. “Oh shit,” he said, “you’re not breathing!”

Akane could swear she heard a growl escape his throat as his hand moved to Kagome’s neck and tried to mess with the buttons there. Between his agitation, his long claws and the tiny buttons, there was no way he was getting that blouse off her quickly. He seemed to realize this and truly let out a growl while grabbing the high necked thing and ripped it away from her neck to just above her navel. She was wearing a thin camisole underneath in a pretty pink hue. A beautiful crystal hung around her neck on a delicate silver chain. He reached around behind her and hugged her to his chest, obviously tormented.

“Kagome! Wake up!”

The girl moved, raising an arm weakly to his shoulder. Maybe she meant to hug him back.

“I’m sorry, InuYasha,” she said weakly. Akane saw the man take a deep breath and relax, hugging her more and expelling a “whew!”

“Kagome, you scared me,” he said, releasing her back into the cradle of his arms to look at her face.

“Scared you?” She looked confused. “Since when did O-“ he quickly placed a hand over her mouth, and she smiled, her eyes crinkling up above his fingers, “since when did that scare you?” She was smiling as she removed his hand.

“Since always.” He smiled with relief to, as if they were sharing a private joke. “You scared me. Underneath me. I don’t think I’ve ever smashed into anything but rock and dirt before. Maybe a lake once. Are you alright?” His hand relaxed to rest on her chest. Akane had no idea what these two were talking about, but they were so interesting to watch, she didn’t make a move to leave, and neither did Ranma.

“Yeah. I guess so.” Kagome took a deep breath and stared into space for a minute, internally assessing her condition. Then she turned her face up to his and a suspicious look came into her eyes, “hey. What were you doing over me, anyway? I only said O-, it, because I was surprised. You’ve never done that before.” She hesitated, “have you?”

“No.” InuYasha was beginning to blush now. What had he been doing to her? “I was ... um ... trying to make sure this guy behind the bushes over there,” he gestured towards where Ranma and Akane crouched with his chin, “didn’t hurt this girl.” He responded to the doubting look on Kagome’s face, “they were fighting. I was afraid she was going to get hurt, I needed to watch them to make sure she was ok. And ... um ... the only break in the hedge was right above you ...,” his voice trailed off. He seemed to realize how weak an excuse it probably sounded to Kagome.

His excuse didn’t sound weak to Akane, huddled on the other side of the hedge, even more aware now of how naked she was under Ranma’s shirt. Her heart started pounding as she thought about that man watching them fight, watching her armor leave abruptly, watching them ... Just as she was about ready to stand and bolt, she felt Ranma’s hand come around her waist as they crouched there on all fours. He slowly and quietly pulled her under him so that her back was to his chest, his arm was curved around her belly and his ... his new friend was pushed up against her bottom. It occurred to her as she felt him hug her more closely to him that this little guy was probably not a stranger to Ranma. She suppressed a giggle as she realized that it was her new friend she was meeting. She sat back into Ranma’s inverted lap playfully. Both her friends responded happily.

Since Ranma seemed to want to stay and watch the drama unfold on the other side of the hedge, returning the favor apparently, Akane decided they might as well stay. She wasn’t too worried about anything with Ranma wrapped protectively around her. Although, looking back at the man and girl, she realized this guy would really give Ranma a run for his money if it came to that.

Kagome didn’t even bother looking over to the hedge where Ranma and Akane peeped through. She clearly didn’t believe him, and she didn’t have to say a word to let InuYasha know this.

“Really, Kagome,” the strange man put some force in his voice and turned his hand to hold hers more firmly as it rested on her chest. “I’m telling the truth. They were fighting. The guy was really strong and the girl ... well, she held her own.”

“Hm.” Kagome seemed to be enjoying making this InuYasha guy squirm. “Ok,” she said, “so who won the fight?”

“Uh. Well,” InuYasha seemed to realize that the truth was going to sound more even less believable to the girl in his arms, “well, she did. No, actually,” an impulsive grin broke on his face, “actually, he did.” He chuckled.

Ranma’s hand slid over Akane’s belly and his arm hugged her as his hand moved up her side. She felt him snicker a little warm air into the nape of her neck. She gasped as his hand briefly cupped her breast and then continued up to stroke her neck. Despite herself, she felt a little rush of excitement, and had no desire to move away.

Kagome’s expression was truly perplexed. InuYasha seemed to realize that he wasn’t making any sense to her. “See. She – well – they both kind of cheated. In the end, I’m not sure quite what happened, but in the end he conceded defeat but managed to get all her clothes off anyway.” He chuckled again, remembering fondly apparently, Akane’s exploding outfit.

Kagome looked at him strangely, but seemed to decide to believe him or let it go. Maybe she was uncomfortable with where the conversation was headed. Or maybe this guy often spouted such nonsense. Akane smiled, imagining how confused Kagome must feel, and feeling how confused her body was, imagining the guy over there watching her clothes fly off. Ranma, too seemed to be feeling something.

“Ok ... whatever,” The girl said as she moved to sit forward and push herself up off his knees. He held her down gently so she couldn’t get up. “What are you doing? Let me up,” she said, not apparently too distressed. These two, strange as they were, seemed to be very comfortable together.

“Um. Kagome,” he cleared his throat, “I’m sorry about ... this,” he carefully fingered her blouse and held out a hand with what looked like some buttons in it.

Kagome fell back into his lap and looked down at herself. A blush traced itself across her cheeks and she moved her hand up to her throat and looked back at him, “what the ...”

InuYasha dropped the buttons in her hand and looked away from her eyes. He absentmindedly fingered the jewel at her neck and said “I, uh. You weren’t breathing after I smashed you.” He cleared his throat again, “I tried to open the buttons, but you know how these things bug me.” Ahem! He said again, “I wanted to make sure you could breathe, so ... So I tore it off.” He grimaced a little, still averting his eyes from her face and clearly embarrassed at the wimpy excuse he had for ripping her clothes. She kept staring at him with an unbelieving look on her face. “Um,” he said again glancing up at her and moving his eyes back down to her chest, “But ... I really like this,” his voice trailed off almost apologetically.

His hand moved away from the jewel to skim the surface of her camisole, immediately over her breast. Akane saw a little nipple surface under the pretty pink fabric. Her own nipple responded to the sight and Ranma’s entire body responded by compressed her underneath him. His hand moved slowly back down to her breast to encourage her nipple a little more. God, his hands were soft! How could she never have noticed this before?

“Oh.” InuYasha said with a faintly perplexed note in his voice, as though just noticing something. Akane assumed he was talking about Kagome’s breast, but although his hand had rested on it, his eyes were fixed on the jewel at her neck. “Kagome?” He sounded a little uncomfortable, but not upset, “what’s happening?”

Kagome’s expression had changed too. She wasn’t paying attention to his hand, although Akane couldn’t understand why not. Her mind was having trouble paying attention to anything but the hand. Kagome was staring into space with a surprised expression. Her hips wiggled a little bit as though trying to settle around an uncomfortable obstruction below. She seemed to figure it out quickly though, and looked accusingly up at her companion.

“What do you mean, ‘what’s going on?’ She wiggled a little harder, trying to get up again. “You’re what’s going on!” His arms didn’t move from around her shoulders. He looked down at her with a serious face, full of sudden emotion.

“No. I mean ... well, that too ... but there’s something else ... happening.” He looked at her, and she looked up into his eyes – which were a beautiful golden color, Akane realized. Ranma’s fingers slowly moved to her other breast – Kagome fell back into his arms once again and lost all the annoyance from her posture. She was getting lost in his eyes, Akane could tell.

The man’s eyes looked down to where his hand was now cupping her breast, with its fully erect nipple. He gasped. “Kagome, look!”

She looked down at her chest with a dazed expression and gasped as well. The jewel at her neck was shining brightly, turning an unearthly light up on the couple’s faces and bathing them in its glow.

They looked beautiful, Akane thought as she closed her eyes and shuddered under Ranma’s touch.

To be continued ...